24 Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. 25 But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. 26 When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.
27 “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’
28 “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.
“‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.
29 “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”
36 Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”
37 Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. 39 The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.
40 “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!
Matthew 13:24-29, 36-43
Dear God, I did a journal on this parable a couple of weeks ago, but it has stuck with me. Second chances.
I was just at a prayer meeting or two of our local schools. I feel badly about not continuing on to two more. I don’t have a good excuse except I didn’t want to. That’s really bad. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I can be so lazy and selfish. Tonight, I was hot and tired and I just didn’t want to persevere. There’s really no excuse. I pray that my lack of participation will not impact the high school and middle school, which were the two stops I missed. I guess I feel like Peter. Always getting out of the boat, but going down immediately.
I was thinking about this passage as I sat down to pray because one of the things that kept coming to me while I was at the elementary school and alternative high school was the idea of how so many of the children are walking in every day with difficult circumstances. They might be living with alternative relatives because their parents are not available for one reason or another. They migh be living among drugs and alcohol abuse. They might be struggling with drugs and alcohol abuse. There might be domestic violence. Homelessness. The list goes beyond what I could spend two hours typing here. It’s tragic. And then they are expected to come to school, behave, and learn. And the staff is expected to take the students and expertly deal with every scenario they face. I think about the school voucher program and how, in the end, it will take the kids out of the school with solid families and backgrounds and, ultimately, make the school a worse place for everyone and leave those with atypical background farther behind.
Where does this parable come in. Because these kids can be considered the wheat. Let me rephrase. They might look like wheat today, but they can still grow up to be wheat in your kingdom. There’s no way we can know now. The temptation is to cast them and their families aside. Throw them into the fire now. But we can’t know what they will be and how they will turn out. We can’t know who is going to overcome their circumstances and which seeds that might look like wheat now will actually turn out to be weeds. No, we won’t know until the harvest. Until then, we must do our best to nourish everyone and see how it all comes out.
Father, again, I repent for leaving not continuing on with the last two prayer meetings at the middle and high schools. I should have pressed on and gone. I have not excuse. Please don’t let it in any way diminish the power you will exhibit in the lives of the children and staff at the schools. And I pray for your Spirit to move through the schools. Love the children. Give them light. Give them hope. Inspire the youth ministers and children’s ministers to know how to reach out. Young Life. FCA. Head pastors. Help us know how to help the parents/guardians too. Let us come together as a Christian community and know how to love our children into being incredible wheat for your Kingdom.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 